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JASON Taylor is under consideration for a return to coach the Eels and Parramatta fans have got every right to wonder why he ever left.

Taylor had a relatively successful stint as caretaker coach for the Eels in 2006, and but for a fairytale run to the grand final in 2009, incredible numbers from Fox Sports Stats show that it's been down hill ever since.

Despite a winning percentage of 62.5 from 16 games - convincingly the best of the six coaches tried since the Brian Smith era came to an end - Taylor was not locked into a full-time position to keep him at the club.

Instead, he took on arguably the hardest job in the competition as South Sydney head coach, and after an average three-year stint, Taylor was thrown onto the scrap heap.

Ricky Stuart's decision to walk out of his contract and take on the job of rebuilding his old club the Canberra Raiders ensures that a horror coaching merry-go-round will continue to spin at the Eels.

After Smith was sacked in 2006, Taylor, Michael Hagan, Daniel Anderson, Stephen Kearney, Brad Arthur (in a caretaker role), and Stuart have been handed the poisoned chalice - with only Taylor and Hagan winning more games than they lost.

Remarkably, given his reputation, the Stuart era has been the club low point in that time, with the one-time Roosters Premiership coach only managing to win five of 24 games - a disastrous winning percentage of 20.8.

MannahSource:DailyTelegraph

Coming after Arthur's two wins from six (33 per cent) and Kearney's 10 wins from 42 (23.8 per cent), morale can't get much lower at the club that was once the pride of the league.

The mood was summed up at Parramatta's presentation night on Thursday night, where Stuart was booed and heckled as he addressed club members.

And speaking on Fox Sports show Sterlo, club legend Nathan Hindmarsh, who played under every coach since Smith, besides Stuart, empathised with outraged fans.

"I think it's been a waste, a total waste. It's just a rubbish heap in there at the moment - they don't know whether they're coming or going," Hindmarsh said.

"Hopefully now we've hit rock bottom, we can start again and we can leave the egos aside.

"He's bought players and that's why they're coming and now they might not turn up. I can understand that - if they want to be coached by Ricky Stuart they have every right to say, well no I'm not coming now.

"Ricky said he was going to be the coach and now he's going to Canberra."

At least four players contracted to the Eels for 2014 have get-out clauses that allow them to walk away from their contract now that Stuart won't be the coach.

On Friday morning former Eels chief executive Dennis Fitzgerald publicly acknowledged that tying down a quality coach to replace Stuart was now the club's biggest challenge.

But rather than give Taylor another shot, Fitzgerald encouraged the board to chase another former coach - Anderson - who took Parramatta to the 2009 grand final but is now working for the NRL as referees boss.

"I think he's a standout," the former Eels supremo told Sky Sports Radio on Friday.

"As recently as 2009, he got the team to the grand final - even though there was a line through his name (in 2010) after I left.

"He's been a most successful coach in the NRL and in Australia, in New Zealand and in England. He's a Parramatta boy, he knows the ins and outs of the club and the development.

"Daniel might not be interested - I don't know. But he's the best available coach that I would see to run Parramatta.

"The fact that he did such a good job as recent as four years ago with Parramatta and, if anything, his experience with dealing with referees would be beneficial."

Apart from Anderson and Taylor, Neil Henry and Tim Sheens are thought to be the other candidates in line for the job.

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